Mike Tyson in El Paso: Bares his soul, his highs and his darkest moments

Mike Tyson took his soul — deep and sometimes dark and sometimes uplifting — and bared it for a crowd of about 2,000 El Pasoans Saturday night in the Abraham Chavez Theatre.

Tyson, the former heavyweight champion of the world, the former "baddest man on the planet," the former fiercest of champions, took the audience on the roller-coaster ride that is his life.

The show opened with Tyson on stage, sitting on a stool ... not unlike the stools he sat on just before destroying his first 37 professional opponents.

But very different.

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The spotlight rained down on him, Nat King Cole's "There was a Boy" playing in the background.

From that moment on, Tyson took the audience on a ride, the unbelievable highs and incredible lows that are the journey of Mike Tyson.

"This will give you a better understanding of me," he said. "This is my story."

He began with the story of his beloved mother and a father, a pimp that he really did not know. One of three children, Tyson said, "I always felt like the black sheep ... the odd guy." And a moment later, he said, "I was born with addictive genes. But my darkness is my light."

He told of his childhood on the mean streets of Brownsville, in Brooklyn, and said his mother probably thought the only way he would leave Brooklyn "was in handcuffs or a wooden box." And he said "we were like a pack of wild wolves."

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He took the journey through his idyllic time in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. It was like a fairy tale. He was rescued by the legendary trainer Cus D'Amato and trained and groomed to become the youngest heavyweight champion of all time.

And that is what he did.

He went from mean streets to king of the world.

Tyson then swept the audience up and took them to the top of the world with him ... and explained how it all came tumbling down. D'Amato passed away just before he won his world title.

"And then I made a deal with the devil," he said, as a picture of Don King appeared on the video board behind him. "It was all so plentiful back then, it was hard to notice deception."

He danced the crowd through his much publicized marriage to actress Robin Givens ... giving the R-rated version. A picture of Givens appeared on the screen and Tyson broke into the Minnie Ripperton high trilled "la la la la la."

He went through his ring and nightclub battle with former boxer Mitch Green, drawing roars of laughter. He talked about his first loss, the debacle in Japan against James "Buster" Douglas. "I wasn't training. I didn't know how I was going to win but I didn't expect to lose."

After that, "I was low, low, low."

And it got worse when his sister Denise passed away at age 25.

And then it really got bad.

Tyson went through his rape conviction and said flatly, "I could have gone to jail for a lot of things. But I did not rape Desiree Washington. My lawyer ... Joe Pesci in 'My Bleepin' Cousin Vinnie' could have done a better job."

He talked of his time in prison, of getting visits from John F. Kennedy Jr. and Maya Angelou and of turning down a visit from Florence Henderson of "The Brady Bunch" because he did not want her to see him in shackles. He was in the hole at the time.

"Those people gave me hope in a hopeless place," he said.

He talked of his conversion to Islam. He talked of Don King charging him $8,000 a week for towels. He talked of his friendship with Evander Holyfield, the man whose ears he bit. "He is a beautiful man, a beautiful brother and I have nothing but respect for him."

He talked of another sinking spell in his roller coaster, his addiction to drugs. And then he talked about the lowest moment in any parent's life ... the loss of a child. His daughter Exodus was killed when a cord from a treadmill got wrapped around her neck.

"I took the first flight to Phoenix and I was mad," he said. "I wanted other people to feel the pain I felt. And then all these parents, whose own kids were dying, consoled me. We were all part of the same club, the club no one wants to be a part of — the bereaved parents club."

Tyson ended to a standing ovation, saying his children "are what my life is about now."

It was an hour and 45 minute roller-coaster ride ... a trip through the incredible highs and the stunning lows of one of this nation's most celebrated athletes.